40 responses to “How’s his pass blocking?”

His pass blocking seemed much better….I saw him upend a few Mizzou rushers…Like Knowshon used to do…He took alot of pride in his Pass protection, which made him a complete back…We have to start throwing to the backs more out of the backfield…Murray has been overthrowing them the first couple games!!! Go Dawgs

Good comment. TG seems to understand who to pick up in pass blocking, seems he just needs work on his technique. The pass to backs out of the backfield seems to be the weakest part of AM’s passing skills. It is such a vital weapon when teams are focusing on the WRs and can make them respect the backs whether running or receiving. Got to get that going. Our FB has been open twice and missed both times, the idea of getting Gurley or Marshall the ball in space is very intriguing to this Dawg fan.

Just goes to show you what a crap-shoot the recruiting Top 10 by position rankings are. This guy is the next Trent Richardson, and the recruiting services had him listed as the 4th to 8th-best RB in his class, 4-stars.

I think anyone who saw the NC vs. SC all star game (forget the dang name of it-Shrine Bowl?), when he was up against some seriously good defensive players from SC, knows he was a bit underrated. He seemed to climb up the rankings after that-but maybe not high enough. He is certainly playing well right now. [Fingers tightly crossed]

Yeah, I have a lot of friends who are Clemson fans, talked to one last week for the first time in awhile and the first thing he said about football was that they all were pissed that we got Gurley over them. He watches a good bit of football in the Carolinas and said he thought Gurley would impress more than Marshall all along…for whatever that’s worth.

I think this depth chart is exactly right, assuming I’m reading it correctly. Gurley deserves to be #1, based on his body of work to this point. Malcome, at #2, has been very good (he had a fantastic spinning run for a 1st down against Mizzou that hasn’t been celebrated nearly enough). And Marshall is as good a #3 as you could ask for, though I’m a bit concerned about his inability to break some tackles so far. Moving through that initial contact will get him in space, which is where his game is best.

While I’m not worried about Gurley in the least, Marshall is a concern. While watching the MO game for the second time it dawned on me what the problem was. He does not keep the wheels moving after first contact. This could be a technique issue or it may be that he is just not strong enough in the lower body to keep churning. One look at Gurley’s physique tells you that he has much more powerful wheels than Marshall. I would absolutely love to see Marshall get into open space and sure do hope that McClendon works with him on keeping his legs moving through contact.

Wouldn’t it be nice to just let Keith Marshall develop past the second game before all of the blundants (blog pundants) decide to start analyzing his running? Todd Gurley is an anomaly. Keith Marshall is not. My guess is that if you didn’t know he was a four star back or whatever he was, you’d be saying, “Did you see that Keith Marshall? He could be a great back too.”

I hope now he starts getting the majority of the carries. They weren’t playing him near enough. I understand the RB by committee plan, but damn. He’s been the top rusher and not getting the most carries. It’s like watching Spurrier change QBs every other down.

If I’m not completely recalling incorrectly, it seems Marshall is more the Shotgun back, while Gurley is run from the I-formation. In the second half the Dawgs went almost excllusively from the Shotgun, hence more Marshall carries. Of course, this could all be flagellant!?

Marshall is the better pass blocker and doesn’t have the issue of jumping based on presnap movement by the defense. Gurley will get there, but Marshall looks much more comfortable on shotgun snaps right now.

I really hope we can figure out how best to utilize Gurley and Marshall. Marshall reminds me a bit of Joe McKnight in terms of his running style and skill set. We need to get that guy into open space and let him break some ankles. And while I’m not sure I see the Gurley comparisons to Trent Richardson, it is clear that he’s a lot better between the tackles, busting his way to the second level and beyond. There’s no reason that these guys shouldn’t EACH be averaging 80+ yards per game.

Can anyone help explain why we were running that quick shove pass to the Tail Back out of the Power I formation in the 1st half? It seemed to allow the LB to queue on the TBs quicker after the snap? I just thought that was odd and self defeating. I can’t remember seeing it at all in the 2nd half.

I agree about the loss of play action effectiveness being lost but I think the advantage to is to the back to get the back and have time to see the hole. Out other option is to have the QB run it back 5-6 yards, make the RB stay focused on the exchange, and have the QB lead all defender’s eyes to where the ball, and ball carrier is. I feel the pitch is quicker and allows the running backs more versitility on where to attack the defense. Seems to be working pretty well so far.

True, I am just not as concerned about it as some. We seem to be having success running the ball with out many crisp blocks on the OL. Hoping we get better at that before we get to the meat of the schedule.

I was wondering the same thing. A caller asked the strategy behind this type of ball exchange in regards to LSU on one of the SiriusXM College Sports Nation shows this past week and the hosts (one being Eddie George) didn’t have an answer except maybe to give the RB more time/better vision of the holes.

In UGA’s case I found it even more strange to toss it to the back for an off tackle run since we try to leverage play action so much in our passing game. Seems to go against that to me. I would think the LBs can read run or pass much quicker when the ball is pitched to the ball carrier. I understand tossing the ball on a sweep but the Dogs we using this for interior line running plays as LSU does.

This would be a good question for Emerson when he does his mailbag call this week. Maybe he can get something from the coaches on this.

My thoughts exactly, the TB may have better vision, but so does the LB. And it takes away any play action by the QB. I don’t think it worked that well in the 1st half, plus the risk for a fumble has to be greater than a direct hand off. I would love to Gurley in a tradional Power I get 20 carries in a game.

Quote Of The Day

“Give them credit, but I think everybody can see that Georgia’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. I’m very proud of this team and this university, and we’re not going anywhere.’ — Kirby Smart, AJ-C, 1/9/18